Big Rocks Slow Salvage Effort

PALM BEACH — Just two boulders stand in the way of the Mercedes` journey back to sea after landing behind Mollie Wilmot`s mansion 103 days ago, salvors said Monday.

The crew for Donjon Marine Co., which moved the boat nearly 6 feet Monday, will continue pulling efforts today, and may use a hydraulic-operated rock splitter to fragment the two stubborn boulders.

But if all else fails, the president of Donjon Marine Co. indicated in a report to the state Department of Natural Resources he would consider using low-level explosives to pulverize the rocks.

``The only factor complicating total successful removal is rocks under the vessel,`` John Arnold Witte Sr., whose firm is under a DNR contract to complete the job, wrote in a report to DNR advisor James Barrett.

Witte said he planned to contact town officials ``about using limited, controlled explosives and approaching Navy personnel for technical assistance,`` but it could not be confirmed when or if he might take these steps.

Town government and police officials, and the Navy`s head of salvage operations, Capt. Charles Maclin, said they had not been contacted about the use of explosives. Witte could not be reached for comment Monday.

But Maclin did say he thinks Donjon had been wise not to consider explosives originally and has been performing well overall.

``It`s all a matter of physics,`` said Maclin, who viewed the Mercedes I last week at the request of DNR`s Barrett. ``No matter how much guys jump up and down on the beach and people say, `We want the ship off,` the way (Donjon) is going about it is the safest and most prudent way without destroying the whole beach.``

Maclin also said, however, that if the rocks could not be dislodged with cables, he would recommend using the low-level plastic explosives -- which would just blow up the boulders and not damage the beach or surrounding area, he said.

Donjon salvage master Billy Kratz, meanwhile, said the crew will attempt at high tide this morning to pull the 197-foot ship northward over one boulder lodged underneath the hull of the craft, while avoiding a second boulder near the bow.

The salvors can only pull about five or six more feet before hitting the second rock, Kratz said. After that, the crew will try to remove the rock by wrapping cable around it and attaching the cable to a bulldozer.

Donjon, which was expecting the rocksplitter to arrive this morning, may have to use the device on the boulder under the hull.

``Without the two rocks, it would slide off the beach,`` Kratz said of the abandoned ship, which ran aground in a storm last Thanksgiving.

The salvors, who already removed a dozen other large rocks with a jackhammer- like device, have also been lightening the 570-ton craft for the past week.

Once the boulders are out of the way, the lightened ship, in conjunction with March`s high moon tides building this week, should refloat the ship, Kratz and Witte said.

During last month`s high tides, Donjon`s system of winches, cables and barge anchors pivoted the bow nearly 190 feet from Wilmot`s seawall. With the rocks removed, another pull could haul the ship 80 feet, and a second pull could move the vessel another 40 feet, where it could refloat.

Since March 16, Donjon has been subject to a $250-a-day fine for missing two deadlines on its $223,696 contract with DNR.